The Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 may have been the first "global" disaster (the word derives from the Japanese tsu harbour + nami wave). The devastation from the earthquake and the tsunami affected more than a dozen countries and exacted a toll on human life from countries around the globe. The world, united by grief, was united in its response to help.
The number of Canadians among the dead and missing, mostly vacationers in Thailand at the time, was but part of the grief felt directly by Canadians. At the national memorial for tsunami victims, Prime Minister Paul Martin acknowledged that "…(s)uch is the nature of our country that the impact of Asia's deadly waves echoes here… Thousands of Canadians… are shattered by the devastation that has been visited upon nations they departed, but never left behind.…"
Many Canadians interact in their daily lives many times over with those with connections to Asia. Neighbours, colleagues, children’s classmates—many people knew someone who suffered losses in their immediate or extended family. Of immigrants who came to Canada from the tsunami-affected countries in Asia, that personal grief was particularly true for Indians—until recently, the majority came to Canada under the family reunification class—and for Sri Lankans, one-third of whom have come under those circumstances. Because of Sri Lankan immigration to Canada beginning in the 1990s, Toronto has more Sri Lankans than any other city outside Sri Lanka. Such individuals and communities gave Canadians a face and a voice to the immensity of the loss.
In reflecting on the outpouring of aid donations for the relief and rebuilding effort, some wondered if such generosity would be a one-time effort, or if it signaled a changed attitude in the world to do better in assisting those in need. Certainly, media coverage of the tsunami disaster, in an age of "instant" communications, was global. Media attention was even more focused on the site of the disaster when a tsunami devastated Japan in March 2011. The outpouring of support and aid in response to that catastrophe was as significant.
The question is, does globalization also apply to our awareness of world problems and of our resolve to respond?
Learn more: Aceh five years after the tsunami